ZUN announces PS4 version of Touhou 14.5 ULiL

[Lebon14]

It's just this illustration Reimu.

LOL, such a troll xD
Totally thought it was Suika too.

[cuc]

Reisen's title: 禁視！狂気のくねくね兎

Translation: "Forbidden Sight! The Lunatic Kunekune Rabbit", "Forbidden Sight! The Twisting Rabbit of Insanity", etc.

I think it would do no harm to translate the monster kunekune as something like "twistie". I'm also ambivalent with translating every instance of 狂気 as "lunatic" when the English word "lunatic" is used with such specificity in the original text.

[cuc]

Apparently Unabara said they still have plans to update the PC version. Not much more details.

The demo locks both characters to one spell card, "Fantasy Seal" for Reimu,  and "Stare of the Hazy Phantom Moon (Lunatic Red Eyes)" for Reisen. It's also unpausable, making the skill lists inaccessible.

Kunekune:
During an Occult Attack, Reisen pounds a mortar with her pestle (can cause damage), and the mortar stays on the field with the kunekune. Being within the kunekune's effect range or firing bullets through it will increase Reisen's Lunacy Gauge, and leaving it will deplete the gauge. When the gauge is full, Reisen becomes powered up, increasing the ranges of most her projectiles.

Reisen's specials:
5C: like Disorder Eye, splits into clones towards both sides.
2C: like Illusionary Blast, shoots out a wide cone-shaped beam.
4C: shoots out a large, high-speed bullet.
6C: like Disbelief Aspect, splits vertically into clones who shoot together
8C: throws out a crate; input 8C again to detonate the crate, splashing toxin that poisons the opponent (damage over time).

Her Weird Last Word is a full-screen attack.

In overall, players say Reisen is at least harder to use than appears in last week's footage, and maybe downright weak. However, ZUN seemed to have actually said on stage today that Reisen is weak and should not be a strong character, so this may be lore-mandated. In any case, she can only become stronger in balance changes, right?

Sources: 1, 2

[Nyxnyx]

Apparently Unabara said they still have plans to update the PC version. Not much more details.

The demo locks each character to one spell card, "Fantasy Seal" for Reimu, "Master Spark" for Marisa, and "Stare of the Hazy Phantom Moon (Lunatic Red Eyes)" for Reisen. It's also unpausable, making the skill lists inaccessible.

Kunekune:
During an Occult Attack, Reisen pounds a mortar with her pestle (can cause damage), and the mortar stays on the field with the kunekune. Being within the kunekune's effect range or firing bullets through it will increase Reisen's Lunacy Gauge, and leaving it will deplete the gauge. When the gauge is full, Reisen becomes powered up, increasing the ranges of most her projectiles.

Reisen's specials:
5C: like Disorder Eye, splits into clones towards both sides.
2C: like Illusionary Blast, shoots out a wide cone-shaped beam.
4C: shoots out a large, high-speed bullet.
6C: like Disbelief Aspect, splits vertically into clones who shoot together
8C: throws out a crate; input 8C again to detonate the crate, splashing toxin that poisons the opponent (damage over time).

Her Weird Last Word is a full-screen attack.

In overall, players say Reisen is at least harder to use than appears in last week's footage, and maybe downright weak. However, ZUN seemed to have actually said on stage today that Reisen is weak and should not be a strong character, so this may be lore-mandated. In any case, she can only become stronger in balance changes, right?

Sources: 1, 2

The power scale feels a bit off. As "weak" as she is, she's still a playable character on LoLK and the bosses got their ass handed by her. Does this mean those guys are weak too?

Also I wanna know if Sumireko is considered "weak". SInce, well, high school girl!

[andykhang]

Well, considering what her power is, and Touhou's general mentality... yeah she would be "weak" . There just isn't much leverage she could rely on against them.

[PK]

The power scale feels a bit off. As "weak" as she is, she's still a playable character on LoLK and the bosses got their ass handed by her. Does this mean those guys are weak too?

Winning doesn't mean she's stronger. In PoFV and the fighters everyone beats and loses to everyone else despite the difference in power (with rare exceptions). Besides, giving a chance to weaker characters is the whole point of the SC rules.

Still, even if stage =/= power, seeing her considered a weak character is a bit surprising and unusual for a stage 5 boss.

[TresserT]

Without trying to start a power level discussion, what ZUN said could mean a lot of things. Maybe he meant weak compared to the rest of the ULiL cast. Most of the characters in ULiL are pretty powerful, unlike in Hisou where it was a mixed bag.

Or he could have meant weak in the grand scheme of things- Reisen certainly isn't Reimu/Yukari/Sagume/etc, though she's probably stronger than all of the fairies in Gensokyo.

Plus, strength is really vague. Reisen's always relied mostly on illusions and medicines in her fighting style. Those things obviously aren't geared towards blowing up a city. She might be the type to win more through trickery and cunning than straight power. And we've always known that about her, so ZUN saying she's weak shouldn't be a surprise if that's what he meant.

I don't think anyone should take the comment to extremes.

[Shizzo]

If I remember correctly, her scenario (and overall appearance) is supposed to happen after LoLK, correct?

Perhaps speaking from a lore standpoint, since the urban legends fad is fading, maybe since she's just started using one of her own to fight that has taken a toll on her overall power?  I mean, the legends aren't supposed to linger around forever. 

[Critz]

Is that twitter post even remotely reliable to begin with?

If yes, then um, wow. Why say that about the sole character you want people to buy your fighting game twice for?
Especially considering how rarely ZUN actually states anything about the power level of the girls and nothing suggesting Reisen isn't reasonably competent before.

[Drake]

To note, the twitter post is an offhand comment barely remembering what was likely an offhand comment itself. I wouldn't suggest it's "unreliable", but I wouldn't make a big deal out of it.

[Clarste]

If I remember correctly, her scenario (and overall appearance) is supposed to happen after LoLK, correct?

Perhaps speaking from a lore standpoint, since the urban legends fad is fading, maybe since she's just started using one of her own to fight that has taken a toll on her overall power?  I mean, the legends aren't supposed to linger around forever.

It's sort of a plot point in the manga that the Urban Legend incident hasn't died down at all. Something about whatever the Lunarians did may have altered Gensokyo on a fundamental level (the imagery used was "already gotten into the roots of the tree"). Frankly I was assuming that Reisen's storyline would address this somehow.

Is that twitter post even remotely reliable to begin with?

If yes, then um, wow. Why say that about the sole character you want people to buy your fighting game twice for?
Especially considering how rarely ZUN actually states anything about the power level of the girls and nothing suggesting Reisen isn't reasonably competent before.

You should probably calm down about this. ZUN has always been rude to his characters, that's nothing new.

[Tiamat]

Yea, maybe he was just taking a jab just for fun like how Cirno is a 9.

[cuc]

Touhou is a comedy, and comedy characters are defined by their incompetencies and failures, not by their strengths.

Footage of ZUN playing Reisen in yesterday's Play,Doujin! stream:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm29889593

Captures of Reisen's intro and victory animations courtesy of enjou_7743:
https://twitter.com/enjou_7743/status/789873241699393536

Her Weird Last Word is called
＊もうお前は狂つている！＊
* You are already crazy! *

At the same time as the stream, Tasofro website was updated with a page for available storefronts, including info on the numerous bonus items. None of them seems to contain any new artwork.

(The IP-block also has gone up again.)

[game2011]

Captures of Reisen's intro and victory animations courtesy of enjou_7743:
https://twitter.com/enjou_7743/status/789873241699393536

Incoming fan arts of Tewi pushing Reisen...

[Tiamat]

Those are hilarious.  Nice coincidence that you posted that just as the thread was talking about how ZUN pokes fun at his characters.

[Komeiji11]

I kind of imagine Reisen will be a bit like Alice. Hard to get into but if you take time to figure her out she can get stuff done. But to be fair, compared to everyone else in ULIL she is considerably weaker game-wise. Everybody else except Ichirin and Futo have been end or extra boss in their own games. And I'd imagine Reisen's abilities would have zero effect on Koishi.

On a tangent, I'm low-key hoping ZUN decides to patch in Clownpiece what with all the clown sightings in America. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it becoming an urban legend if the craze keeps up long enough.

[kaabiimaster]

did they announce anymore characters alongside reisen?

[N-Forza]

They haven't and they've given no indication they will.

Even if they did, people are just going to complain that they won't be added to the PC version anyway.

[Phasm]

Here's the thing though, assuming that the next fighiting game has the " flying touhou fight engine " then everyone from HM and ULIL ( including Reisen ) will be available on the next fighter + a few new faces.

[PK]

Well, the guy from tasofro said they reached their objectives as far as fighting games go, and they need some stimulation. Maybe they are going to try another genre instead?
What kind of games would suit official Touhou works aside of shooters and fighters?

[Phasm]

I think an RPG would fit Touhou, i mean it's not like it hasn't been done before and it would also allow for more character development. Aside from that... something highly unlikely Metroidvania?

[Serela]

While Touhou works well for RPG formats I don't think there'd be an -official- RPG (When you have to be -totally- canon it just doesn't fit as well), and it doesn't really seem like Tasofro's style, looking at the other fangames they've made that aren't official (Grief Syndrome, Satori Komeiji's Mental Education, MegaMari)

[kaabiimaster]

i'd kinda like to see seija or clownpiece in a fighter

[Tiamat]

An RPG in Gensokyo would require ZUN to do an actual map of Gensokyo to scale.  I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to do that.  (If I were ZUN, I sure as hell wouldn't want to do that.  It'd be REALLY restrictive for a series that you don't plan on ending any time soon)

Of course, I suppose he could set it in another setting I suppose if he really wanted to, like a portion of Makai or a labyrinth (*sideways glance*) or whatever.

[game2011]

The series is supposed to be short, simple, and arcade-styled, so RPGs won't do.

I can see a beat'em up happening.

[cuc]

The way I see it now, the existence of the Tasofro Touhou fighting series was a happy coincidence, and not something we should take for guaranteed. Unabara designed them to realize his vision of creating games modeled after Astra SuperStars, while ZUN was more approachable because it happened in the early days, before Touhou became too big and attracted too much attention and commercial interest, Neither party has any obligation or strong incentive to keep making official Touhou spinoffs; they make them because they wanted to. Profit certainly has never been Tasofro's main motivation - otherwise they would keep pumping out expansion packs to SWR, rather than sticking to the HM system when it already proved highly unpopular.

In short, while this may not be the end of Tasofro spinoffs (Me? Still waiting for playable Kaguya myself), as Tasofro move on towards new goals, there may always come a day when they part ways with ZUN as co-developers.

[cuc]

Unabara posted Reisen's skill list, to be used for this weekend's demo station at Akihabara Gamers.

Translation of new stuff:
5C: Disorder Eye: Input 4 or 6 during action to select where Reisen will appear
6C: Lunatic Gun (high speed bullet)
8C: Medicine Chest: Input C for an additional attack (denotating the poison chest)
2C: Lunatic Clamp (cone-shaped beam)
4C: Disbelief Aspect

Occult Special Attack: "You See It, You Go Crazy!"
Creates a Kunekune that reacts to some of Reisen's attacks; Reisen becomes enhanced with the increase of the opponent's Insanity Gauge


I wonder if "Lunatic Clamp" is "Lunatic Lamp" misspelt, but with ZUN, you never know.

[dranxis]

I didn't see this question asked here, but if it did get asked already I apologize:

I'm planning on ordering a physical copy of this game. Do we know if it'll be region-locked? I live in the US, and was planning on getting the PS4 slim that just came out to play it, along with a few other games.

According to google, whether a game is region-locked depends on the developer... But I don't play very many games tbh, so I don't know how often games are actually region-locked on PS4.

[cuc]

No PS4 game has been known to actually implement region-lock so far. Unless Tasofro has the unlikely plan to set a rare precedence, you should be safe.

[dranxis]

Thanks for the fast response! Yeah, I hadn't heard of it happening before but thought I'd double check.